And Cuomo didn't shy away from potentially kicking Con Ed out of New York if the findings show gross negligence. Con Ed has "an attitude of the too-big-to-fail banks," Cuomo said, suggesting the company could be replaced if problems continue.

"This is a franchise. This is a license," Cuomo said during an interview on WNYC. "This is not a God-given right, and if they don't perform well, they can be replaced."

Con Ed gave 'the worst answer,' Cuomo says

About 72,000 customers lost power Saturday night after a transformer blew, Con Ed said, causing 30 blocks from Times Square to the Upper West Side to go dark starting at 6:47 p.m.

Con Ed vowed to conduct "a diligent and vigorous investigation to determine the root cause of the incident."

Late Monday, Con Ed said its inspection of equipment and preliminary review of system data showed the outage was the result of a relay protection system at the West 65th Street substation "did not operate as designed."

"That system detects electrical faults and directs circuit breakers to isolate and de-energize those faults," the company said in a statement.

"The relay protection system is designed with redundancies to provide high levels of reliability. In this case, primary and backup relay systems did not isolate a faulted 13,000-volt distribution cable at West 64th Street and West End Avenue."

But Cuomo said the largest utility company in the nation needs to do a better job and provide details about what caused the outage.

“Con Ed said they don’t know, which is the worst answer you can give,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo called the blackout a “pure operation failure” on the company's part and said the hours-long blackout was a public safety risk that could have plunged the city into chaos.

“We were lucky that no one died," Cuomo said. "As governor of New York, I don’t want to rely on luck."

In response to Cuomo's comments, Con Ed said in a statement, "New York’s grid is the most reliable in the country, and we are focused on finding the root cause of Saturday’s outage."

People gather at Times Square after a power outage hit Manhattan in New York City on July 13, 2019. - Subway stations plunged into darkness and the billboards of Times Square suddenly flicked off as New York's Manhattan was hit by a power outage on Saturday. About 42,000 customers lost electricity in the early evening, according to the Con Edison utility, which did not give a reason for the cut.(Photo: Thomas Urbain, AFP/Getty Images)

Not the first issue with Con Ed

Saturday’s blackout isn’t the first incident involving Con Edison's 62 power stations in the city: In December, a voltage detector at a Queens substation malfunctioned, causing the night skies around New York City to turn blue.

The Democratic governor has been critical of the company in the past over reports of poor service. In this case, he ordered the Public Service Commission to do an independent investigation.

The company provides 3.4 million New Yorkers with electricity and natural-gas service to 1.1 million customers throughout Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx as well as Westchester County.

John McAvoy, the company's chairman, said Saturday night that Con Ed quickly determined the reason for the outage.

"It changed over time," he said. "Everybody didn't all lose power at 6:47 p.m. because some items became overloaded and we actually had to take action to shut off power to other customers to prevent them from equipment damage. But over that period of time we knew exactly which customers were affected."

McAvoy said he didn't think the system was at further risk in coming days.

"We have nothing to indicate that," he said. "That being said, we have not done the root cause analysis that will identify exactly what caused this outage so you can't exclude that until you actually know what the conditions were that caused this."

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A member of the NYPD mans an intersection on 8th Ave. below Columbus Circle in Manhattan after a power outage left large parts of the West Side of Manhattan without power July 13, 2019. Seth Harrison/The Journal News

Tourists from Italy try to find a way back to their hotel in Brooklyn after the subways shut down due to a power outage that left large parts of the West Side of Manhattan without power July 13, 2019. Seth Harrison/The Journal News

July 13, 2019; New York, NY, USA; People sit outside a midtown hotel after a power outage left large parts of the West Side of Manhattan without power July 13, 2019. Seth Harrison, The Journal News-USA TODAY NETWORK

A subway station at Columbus Circle in Manhattan was closed as subways were shut down after a power outage left large parts of the West Side of Manhattan without power July 13, 2019. Seth Harrison/The Journal News

A member of the NYPD stands by a closed subway station at Columbus Circle in Manhattan was closed as subways were shut down after a power outage left large parts of the West Side of Manhattan without power July 13, 2019. Seth Harrison/The Journal News

Buildings throughout midtown and the West Side of Manhattan were without power after a power outage left large parts of the West Side of Manhattan without power July 13, 2019. Seth Harrison/The Journal News

Commuters use their phones as flashlights during a widespread power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities were scrambling to restore electricity to Manhattan following a power outage that knocked out Times Square's towering electronic screens, darkened marquees in the theater district and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

An entrance to the C and E trains at the 50th Street Subway Station is dimly lit during a power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities were scrambling to restore electricity to Manhattan following a power outage that knocked out Times Square's towering electronic screens and darkened marquees in the theater district and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

Screens in Times Square are black during a power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities were scrambling to restore electricity to Manhattan following a power outage that knocked out Times Square's towering electronic screens and darkened marquees in the theater district and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

Pedestrians cross the street near emergency response vehicles at 50th Street and 8th Avenue during a power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities were scrambling to restore electricity to Manhattan following a power outage that knocked out Times Square's towering electronic screens and darkened marquees in the theater district and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

An area leading to the C and E trains at the 50th Street Subway Station is dimly lit during a power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities were scrambling to restore electricity to Manhattan following a power outage that knocked out Times Square's towering electronic screens and darkened marquees in the theater district and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

The Upper West Side of the Manhattan borough of New York is dark after a transformer fire caused a power outage and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Alan Reeves, AP

Iconic building One Times Square, home of the Time Square Ball, is dark from the large power outage that took place in the Times Square and Midtown Manhattan section of New York, NY around 7 p.m. on July 13, 2019. Christopher Sadowski/Special to NorthJersey.com

A store owner in Times Square sits outside his store during a widespread power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities were scrambling to restore electricity to Manhattan following a power outage that knocked out Times Square's towering electronic screens, darkened marquees in the theater district and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

Fire trucks respond during a widespread power outage in the Manhattan borough of New York, Saturday, July 13, 2019, Authorities say a transformer fire caused a power outage in Manhattan and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

Screens in Times Square are black during a widespread power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities say a transformer fire caused a power outage in Manhattan and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

A police officer directs traffic in Times Square during a widespread power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in the Manhattan borough of New York. Authorities say a transformer fire caused a power outage in Manhattan and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

Screens in Times Square are black during a widespread power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in the Manhattan borough of New York. Authorities say a transformer fire caused a power outage in Manhattan and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

Screens in Times Square are black during a widespread power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities say a transformer fire caused a power outage in Manhattan and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP

Campaigning de Blasio faces criticism

Cuomo arrived at the scene Saturday night while New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was in Iowa campaigning for president.

De Blasio made it back to the city on Sunday, but the mayor drew heavy criticism for being absent during the blackout.

On Monday, the New York Post called for Cuomo to take steps to remove de Blasio from office. It said the city's charter and the state Constitution allows the governor to suspend the mayor for 30 days and then can take actions to ultimately remove him.

But Cuomo, who has sparred with de Blasio for years, said Monday he would not do so.

The New York Post front page on Monday, July 15, 2019, called for Mayor Bill de Blasio to leave office after a blackout Saturday night in Manhattan when the mayor was in Iowa campaigning for president(Photo: Newseum)

“I’m not going to exercise my legal authority to move against the mayor,” Cuomo said on WAMC, a public radio station in Albany.

For his part, de Blasio told reporters Sunday that he got back to the city as quickly as he could and was in constant contact with leaders on the ground.

"When I heard about the incident, I was waiting to understand exactly what was going on so we could make that decision. Also, it’s, unfortunately, on a Saturday evening," he said.

"It's a very long trip back, so I wasn't going to be able to be here immediately under any circumstance. The most important thing was to get a clear picture – what was going on, was it going to be immediately resolved or not. Once it was clear it was not going to be immediately resolved, I started back immediately."

While Cuomo said he was "not prepared" to remove de Blasio from office, he did say he believes it is important for a chief executive such as a mayor to respond when an incident takes place.

"There are more day-to-day operational issues for a chief executive where you are needed on site," Cuomo said.

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Screens in Times Square are black during a widespread power outage on Saturday. Authorities say a transformer fire caused a power outage in Manhattan and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. Michael Owens, AP Images

Screens in Times Square are black during a widespread power outage, Saturday, July 13, 2019, in New York. Authorities say a transformer fire caused a power outage in Manhattan and left businesses without electricity, elevators stuck and subway cars stalled. (AP Photo/Michael Owens) ORG XMIT: NYMO104 Michael Owens, AP